


Of Flowers & Desserts

by HolleringHawk65



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Corporate Espionage, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - Suburbs, F/M, It's old but I'm getting back into fanfiction to help my writing, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rebecca is about 25, Wesker is 35, but the characters aren't really OOC, crack setting, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-05-13 14:40:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19253233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HolleringHawk65/pseuds/HolleringHawk65
Summary: Rebecca recently moved to Avalon, and now the book club is pressuring her to find out everything about the reclusive Wesker or they'll stop giving her flower shop any business. The thing is, Rebecca doesn't want Wesker and his son Jake to be subjected to anything the Ladies of Avalon might have up their sleeves.





	1. Lavender and Lemon Bars

To be honest, Rebecca Chambers hated going to the Ladies of Avalon's Book Club. First of all, there were actually no books involved. Secondly, it was usually just to complain about their children, and seeing as she was only 25 and quite single, Rebecca had none. Thirdly, they very much liked to gossip, and Rebecca had never quite taken to this.

But, they complemented the flowers in her yard and often brought up events where a florist would be needed, and Rebecca (a florist) always had a card or two at the ready.

Today, the subject of their discussion was Albert Wesker, a recluse (and quite often called the Boo Radley of Avalon, their little isolated suburb where Rebecca was surprised they even knew who Boo Radley was), and apparently a father, or at least a guardian. Being Wesker's neighbor, she had noticed the little boy who had appeared last weekend. Wesker had been there for two straight days before his car started disappearing off to work, wherever that was. Due to her living room window, she could see the boy most of the time-he opened the curtains to their living room to let the summer light in. He just read, mostly, but sometimes he sat at the piano.

In any case, she didn't understand their need to talk about him. They didn't know the boy's name, and it wasn't like any of them had the guts to go to Wesker's house themselves. From what they'd all seen, he was a brooding giant, built like the Terminator.

Rebecca took a sip of her iced tea and quietly sighed. Suddenly, Millie, the ringleader and usual host of the book club, looked over to her.

"You live next to him, don't you? Surely he must have said something to you." Her voice sounded full of accusation-she was probably still upset that Rebecca had won the tulip contest last month.

She shook her head. "I believe the only thing I've ever said to Mr. Wesker," she couldn't bear to be disrespectful and simply say 'Wesker', "was 'Happy Easter'."

"What's the point of having a young lady living next to the most elusive member of Avalon if she doesn't do anything?" Laura said before sighing dramatically.

Rebecca didn't say anything for a moment. She'd only moved here in February, buying the house from an old man and his son, who were both moving down to Florida. "Like you said, he's very elusive. I've only seen him a handful of times."

"I want gossip," Pamela said. "All of the juicy details of his life. For example, where did he get all of those muscles?"

"He must be some sort of government agent," Amelia, Pam's sister, said.

"And is he married? We need to find out where that boy came from," Heidi told her.

"Darling, you must simply find out," Millie said, leaning over and putting her hand on Rebecca's leg. "After all, we give your shop so much business, it's the least you can do in return." Her nails lightly scraped her thigh and the younger girl tried not to shake.

"I'll see what I can do," she said softly. She wouldn't say that she was scared of Wesker, but he didn't seem like the friendliest man in the world. She imagined it was worse to upset Millie further, though.

* * *

 

When she got home, she sighed and got herself a bottle of water from the fridge. She looked out of the kitchen window, looking at the view of her backyard. It was filled with flowers, a stark contrast to Wesker's yard, which was devoid of any colors besides green, grey, brown, and the white picket fence. The grass wasn't even that well kept, and the ivy was climbing up the trees, and, more than likely, starting to kill them.

Twisting her short hair around her fingers, she sighed. She was about to hunt around for her lemon bar recipe when she saw a movement in her neighbor's yard. It was the boy, dressed in a u-shirt and cargo shorts, moving towards the fence. He peered over it, looking out into her yard. He looked up at her apple tree, which had a few branches hanging over to their yard, before walking away, presumably to back inside.

She drummed her fingers on the counter as she thought out loud. "Well, if the lemon bars go well, maybe I'll make an apple pie."

* * *

 

It was nearing sun down when Wesker came back from work. It hadn't been too much of a trying day, the worst part was when Birkin would not stop asking questions about Jake.

He took a deep breath before getting out of the car.

The boy was his son, his mother his girlfriend a few years ago. Apparently, she had passed away, and Jake's uncle had finally decided that it was time to reach out.

Now, he had a nine year old son who wanted nothing to do with him in the slightest.

"I'm home," he said, voice gruff. He wasn't sure if Jake even cared-he didn't always respond.

"I started dinner!"

All Wesker could think that the boy would probably burn himself and not even tell anyone about it, and quickly took off his shoes.

As soon as he walked in, he prepared himself to survey the damage, but saw that all Jake had done was start to soak chicken in water and salt, as well as get a pan ready for the oven.

"I thought baked chicken would be good," Jake said, sitting on the counter. "I mean, I like it, and I assumed you like chicken since it was in the fridge. And maybe we could have a side of applesauce and some veggie or something."

"That sounds well-rounded," Wesker commented. What was he supposed to say? Up until last week it had been frozen entrees at midnight, which was fine for one person. Now, he had to think about what a growing boy would want, and the nutrients he needed.

Jake smiled, even though Wesker could see it.

They both didn't know what to make of each other-how would they? They only realized that each other existed a few days ago. It was slow going, but Jake was confident that they would find a way to get along...eventually, at least.

* * *

 

They had just finished dinner when the doorbell rang. Jake went to go answer it as Wesker had his wrists deep in soapy water. The older man sighed and dried his hands, not even wanting to know which of the neighborhood ladies were trying to snoop around this time.

They hadn't tried in years, not since he first moved to Avalon, but he always felt like he was being watched. It was creepy, to say the least. The ladies always came on too strong for him to even think about getting to know them.

Jake had just opened the door when Wesker started coming down the hallway. Doing so revealed that it was the new girl from next door-Rachel? Rita?

"Oh, hello! I'm Rebecca Chambers, your next door neighbor. I just wanted to bring over some dessert and flowers and introduce myself," she told Jake.

"I'm Jake Muller, and I just came here from New York, and wow you're pretty just like your yard and your apples looks so good and-"

"Jake," Wesker said, probably sounding a little exasperated.

Rebecca looked up from the boy to smile at him. "Hi, Mr. Wesker."

"Hello. Would you like to come in? We can all have some of the lemon bars you brought."

"Oh, sure." She seemed shy.

It made Wesker suspicious-but then again, it was probably bad to not be suspicious of women who show up at 8 o'clock at night with food and flowers.

Jake stepped back so she could step in, before closing the door. She looked around the hall, seeming surprised. Wesker liked to think that for someone who doesn't spend a lot of time in the house, it looks very nice, if not just a little bit dusty.

He eyed the flowers in her one hand. They were stalks of lavender and yellow roses, which he assumed she had gotten straight from her backyard. They rested in a simple clear vase, and, considering the simplicity, were beautiful.

She set them down on the dining room table after asking Wesker if that was alright. Jake went to go get dessert plates and some utensils, while Wesker stayed in the room with Rebecca.

"I'm assuming you're a florist?" he asked her after a moment.

"Oh, yeah. I own the shop downtown."

For any other person, they probably would know exactly where this shop was downtown, but he hadn't been downtown in years, and only needed flowers for the Birkins' birthdays and anniversary.

"What do you do?" she asked.

"I work at Umbrella Pharmaceuticals."

Rebecca had caught the drift that Umbrella had kept this area afloat during the recession, so they were kind of a big deal.

"Oh, so you're not Black Ops or something?"

"What? Where did that come from?"

"It's just something the ladies like to throw around," she said, embarrassed that she had even mentioned it.

"At their book club?" he asked, before sighing. "They're so nosy."

"Tell me about it."

Just then, Jake came back with everything. "The kitchen is so huge that I forgot where the plates were," he explained as he set it down on the table before taking his seat.

They all made a little bit of small talk. All Rebecca got from it was that Wesker had the most amazing green eyes, Jake was in fact Wesker's son, they both liked apples, Wesker hardly went away on business trips and just worked long hours, and they didn't watch TV.

What the other two got from it was that Rebecca was from the West Coast, so now living on the East Coast was a huge change, her shop did floral arrangements for all sorts of occasions, she had no family nearby but some friends, she made her own hours but did work a lot, and she preferred music over TV.

By the time, it was nine o'clock. They exchanged good nights and the promise of returning the dish and the vase, but she said that they didn't have to.

As soon as Jake saw she was down the driveway, he turned to his dad. "We have to have her over again and soon."

Wesker nodded, agreeing full heartedly. He just couldn't shake the feeling that something felt off about it. "We'll invite Rebecca over for dinner soon."

"Sunday?" Jake asked.

"We'll see. Go get ready for bed now, alright?"

"Yeah. Uh, g'night Wesker."

"Good night, Jake."

* * *

 

It was nearing midnight when Wesker looked out of his bedroom window. He didn't expect to see much, but then he saw a room in Rebecca's house with the lights on, right across from his. He could see the bed and, a little further away, Rebecca sitting on a stool, her back to him.

He wondered what she was doing, and told himself to remember to ask her about her hobbies.

He stood there for a moment longer before pulling himself away from the window. He quietly went down the hall to check on Jake, and, seeing his son in bed, went to retire himself.


	2. Tiger Lilies and Cupcakes

"Rebecca, darling, have you talked to Wesker?" Millie asked.

_Well, she doesn't waste anytime._

Rebecca had just gotten out of her car; it was Friday night, two days after the book club meeting and her first meeting with Wesker and Jake. She grabbed her messenger bag from the car before answering.

"Yeah, I introduced myself." She fiddled with the strap of the bag, not looking into Millie's eyes.

"Did you learn anything?" the queen bee asked.

"The boy's name is Jake."

"Is he Wesker's son?"

"I don't know, they didn't say." She knew that there was no real good reason for lying, but something about Millie seemed really off.

"Oh, darling, you're going to have to do better than that. If you want Avalon's business, that is."

"I don't see why this is so important. If you want to be so nosy, go over yourself! Mr. Wesker's obviously home right now," she indicated the car, "so go ask him all of these stupid questions yourself."

Millie stared at her for a moment. "I'm going to let this go, passing it off as end of the week exhaustion. I want more answers by Wednesday."

Rebecca watched as the woman walked away in her velour jogging suit, her little dog waddling after her. It was in that moment that she believed that it might've been better to move in with Jill in her cramped, downtown apartment.

She glanced over at the Wesker residence and sighed. What was the big deal, any way?

* * *

 

Wesker rolled the dice and sighed.

"Go to Jail," Jake said. Again.

Monopoly had been a joint decision between the two. Jake didn't like chess or checkers, and Wesker refused to do Pictionary. Somehow, they ended up getting Monopoly.

Birkin had suggested setting Friday night for the two of them to do something "fun" together. While he probably had meant going to see a movie or something, the two didn't really like to go out. Hence the board game.

The phone started ringing. Both ignored it for a moment before they looked up at each other.

"The phone-" Jake started.

"I know."

"Aren't you going to pick it up?"

"Nobody calls me." If it was really urgent, Birkin would text him. "It's probably just a telemarketer."

"You're not even going to check?" Jake asked.

Wesker pushed the dice to him. "No. They'll leave a message if it matters."

Right after that, the message started recording. "Hello! It's Rebecca, from the other night, and I was just wondering if you'd want to come over Sunday at sometime. I really enjoyed talking to you to on Wednesday. Call me back either way, bye!"

"Told you to look at it," Jake mumbled.

"No, you asked me if I was going to."

"Same thing!"

Wesker was about to argue, but then figured it was pointless. "She could've just walked over," he mused out loud.

"Maybe she was too scared. Or maybe she didn't want to trip over your stupid rocks." Jake rubbed his scraped knee. "So call her back."

"Why don't you call her back?"

"I dunno, because you're the adult?"

"You're the one who wanted to do something with her on Sunday."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm going to go over there right now and ask her in person. Like a _gentleman_."

"You're nine."

"And you're like, fifty."

"I am thirty-five, for your information."

He shrugged as he got up. Wesker watched him for a moment before rising to his own feet. Jake looked over his shoulder, smiling.

"What?"

"I dunno, it's just that you're usually pretty stone-cold."

Wesker ignored that and slipped into his neglected pair of flip flops. No need to put on a pair of loafers for a quick walk next door.

The two didn't rush going over, Jake being more cautious about rocks as they walked over. They didn't say anything to the other as they did, both lost in their own thoughts.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Wesker thought he saw a flash of pink, but dismissed it. The women of Avalon weren't super spies or anything…

Jake rang the doorbell, and after a moment, Wesker thought that this was all very silly. He should've just called her back. Maybe she was in the bathtub or something and didn't hear the doorbell.

The boy was about to ring the doorbell again when the door swung open. She was, in fact, in a robe, and she let out a laugh.

"I thought it was going to be someone else. Do you want to come in for dessert? My friend gave me some cupcakes."

Jake looked up at Wesker. "Please?"

It wouldn't hurt to stay for a little while, and… seeing Rebecca counted as 'fun', right?

* * *

 

"You gave my cupcakes to your neighbors?" Luis asked, leaning against the counter.

"Okay, so I was in my studio/bedroom and I heard the doorbell and I don't know, I thought it was Millie again but nope, it was Wesker and his son, the source of my issues."

"And you were in your robe?"

"Yes, alright? Any way, of course I invited them in for cupcakes because you gave me a dozen and what am I supposed to do with a dozen cupcakes before they go stale? What else was I supposed to do?"

"Tell them to go home because it was what, nine o'clock on a Friday night?"

"I'm not rude."

The brunet laughed. "I know. So are the three of you doing anything tomorrow?"

"Yeah, actually. Breakfast, or brunch, or whatever meal you have at 10 o'clock. I was thinking peach cobbler."

"Your peach cobbler? You're spoiling them!"

"I have to if I want any real business," Rebecca told him as she put another tiger lily in the vase.

"I thought that Millie only threatened you about the book club," he said, beginning to frown.

"Yeah, but those ladies know how to network. Over half my sales come from their husbands' companies or their friends or whatever. If Millie ruins me, that all goes away."

"So you're supposed to dig up dirt on your neighbor for gossiping suburban housewives?"

"I feel like I'm in a bad season of Desperate Housewives, okay?"

He laughed again. "I'll try advertising you a little more, alright? And I'll make sure Leon does, too. It'll be okay, whatever happens."

"Thanks."

"So, on the plus side, is he hot?"

Rebecca stared at him for a moment, trying not to blush but failing. "Yeah, he's super hot. He's like, taller than Chris, and paler, with green eyes."

"Buff?"

"Buff."

"And he's got a pretty good job, a kid, a nice house, and doesn't seem like a douchebag. Sounds like the full package."

"He really does seem like it. I'm just…"

"Not ready."

"Well yeah, my fiance died in a helicopter crash. And I ran away from our apartment in San Francisco to come here."

"It's not that bad here. After all, I'm here." He said it with a smile.

"I know." She sighed. "I hate Millie. Why do I have to do this?"

"You live next store to the guy?"

"No, I mean, why do they care?"

"He's like a rare creature. You know he's there, but you don't know anything about him. Like a platypus."

She rolled her eyes. "Get out."

Luis leaned over more to ruffle her hair. "I'm just down the street if you need me." "I know, see ya."

* * *

 

Later that night, Rebecca was lying on her bed. Music crooned out of her radio's speakers as she tried reading a book, but she couldn't focus. She thought about last night, with Wesker and Jake just showing up. It was a surprise, though it was nice. She liked talking to them.

She rolled over and looked out of her window. She could just see one of the bedroom windows and realized after a moment that it must be Wesker's.

Right there.

The thought, strangely enough, made her smile.

"I just don't want him to find out and hate me," she whispered. He seemed so secluded and it was probably only because of Jake that he was even attempting to reach out.

She was betraying them, wasn't she? They were telling her these things and she was supposed to turn around and tell the Book Club so that they could gossip about it and let rumors run amok. It was horrible to even think about.

She groaned before rolling over again, trying to concentrate on the book.

* * *

 

"What I'm getting from this is that you actually like a girl," Ada said after Wesker had finished his little rant about how Rebecca seemed nice but the women of Avalon were, overall, evil.

"I know, right?" Birkin said, smiling. "I'm so happy! I want to go on a double date with Annette and them."

Ada rolled her eyes. "If you're so worried about these Avalon chicks, why did you invite her over?"

Wesker shrugged as he put one last file into his bag. "She seems different."

"Watch her be gay," Ada said, a smile on her lips. "She sounds like my type."

"Oh, yay," he said dryly. "I would take every chance I could get to ruin your dates."

"You're awful."

"Before you two start throwing around insults, I have an idea!" Birkin told them. "Why don't the four of us," Wesker assumed he meant himself, Annette, their daughter Sherry, and Ada, "come over for brunch. I've always wanted to see your dining room in use. And we can assess Rebecca."

"And terrify her into never talking to me again?"

"Are we that bad?" Ada and Birkin said in unison.

"Sometimes," he said with a sigh. "If you really want to spend your Sunday morning like that, be my guest."

"It sounds wonderful," the woman said. "I'll make sure to dress appropriately."

"Be sure that you do," Wesker said, eyeing her tight fitting clothes. "Please don't scar my son."

She laughed. "I won't. Good night, you two!" she said as she sauntered out of the room.

"How's Jake doing anyway?" Birkin asked.

"He's alright. Meeting Rebecca was the highlight of his week, I think. He's already fallen and hurt himself."

"How? The rocks?"

"The rocks."

"Annette told you those were a hazard."

"Annette thinks that everything is a hazard," Wesker reminded him. "I'm sometimes shocked that she lets Sherry go to school."

William shrugged as the two walked out together. "So does nine thirty sound good for tomorrow? We'll come early to help set up."

"Sure."

"I'm curious though, are you going at this at a keep-your-enemies-close angle? Or will you drop Rebecca if we don't like her?"

Wesker thought about how happy Jake was to have somebody else in the house. "We'll see. I'm not sure yet."

Birkin leaned against his car, some kind of smile on his lips. "I'll guess we'll find out tomorrow."

"I suppose we will. Good night, Birkin."

"Good night, Albert. I'll see you tomorrow!" he said before getting into his car.

Wesker nodded before heading to his own car.

* * *

 

Before he took a shower, he checked to make sure Jake was in bed. the boy was sprawled out on top of his bed, probably too hot for the sheets, but he appeared to be asleep.

Wesker felt bad for coming home so late-almost one in the morning-but he couldn't rewrite his whole schedule for him. And he didn't totally neglect him-he checked in on him throughout the day. In fact, ever since he came home to find Jake trying to get his knee to stop bleeding, he found that he was a slightly paranoid parent. He figured he wasn't to Annette's level yet but the worrying was still there. He sighed before softly closing the door.

Maybe it was time to dig those rocks up.

* * *

 

Rebecca glanced at the clock and groaned at seeing it was one fifteen. She rarely stayed up this late, but she wasn't tired. She flicked the nightstand light off though, going to force herself to sleep.

She looked out of the window one last time to see that Wesker was finally home-one of the lights was on in the room.

She stared at the window for a moment, wondering if she would catch a glimpse of him, then waved the idea off and shut her eyes.


	3. Peach Roses and Cobbler

Ada arrived first at nine fifteen, carrying with her a bag of fresh bagels and cream cheese from the trio's favorite lunch spot.

"Whole wheat, Wesker, they're good for you," she said, smiling. It was an inside joke and he managed a smile and a thanks.

Wesker introduced her to Jake, who had just come down from getting ready. They seemed to like each other, and went to the living room so that he could play the piano for her.

He kept the bagels in the bag but put the cream cheese in the fridge so it wouldn't get weird from sitting out too long. He didn't know what to do-what do you do for brunches anyway? This was a bad idea.

The doorbell rang and then opened by itself. "Uncle Wesker! We're here!" he heard Sherry say. The piano music abruptly stopped as Jake went to the hall.

"In the kitchen!" he said, then winced at how domestic he sounded. Him, chief researcher of Umbrella Pharmaceuticals, domestic.

A young blonde came in and almost tackled him with her hug. "I'm super happy we could come!"

He smiled down at her as he hugged her back. "I'm glad you could too."

Annette came in with a cooler. His eyebrows rose at her look.

"Men are clueless about this sort of thing, Wesker, don't be surprised. I brought two different kinds of green salad (Caesar and barbeque chicken), cold cuts for the bagels," he wondered how she already knew about those, "danishes, the pound cake Ada likes, and half & half iced tea/lemonade." She took a deep breath. "Will is bringing in fondue, other cheese, and crackers. Tell me you have breakfast food."

He nodded. "Eggs, bacon, sausages, and pancake mixes."

"Good."

They looked at each other and smiled. "Thanks, Annette."

"You're welcome. Now, when's your friend getting here?"

"About ten," he said. "She lives next door, so…" he shrugged.

The phone started ringing and he heard Jake pick it up. A minute later, the boy came in.

"It's Rebecca," he told him, extending the phone out.

He took the phone. "Hello."

"Hi, Wesker," he'd insisted after she tried calling him 'Mr. Wesker' for the fifth time, "My friend from California stopped by, so I don't think I can make it."

"Bring him over with you," Wesker said, leaning against the counter. Annette paused mid reach into the cooler, eyebrow raised. "I have some other friends over," he paused, trying to find the words. "The more, the merrier!"

"Are you sure? I don't want to impose…"

He glanced at Birkin, who had just set up the fondue. What? he mouthed, trying to look innocent.

"Really, it's fine. We'd love to have you both over."

Ada turned around, her eyebrow raised.

"Alright, I'll see you in a bit."

"See you soon," he replied.

"Well?" Ada said as soon as he turn the phone off.

"One of her friends from California showed up today. I told her just to bring him over."

"Ex?" Annette inqueried.

"I don't know, but we'll probably find out."

* * *

"Billy," Rebecca hissed. "I can't believe you just showed up."

"I was bored," he admitted. "I figured I'd see you how you were doing, catch up and everything."

"So you drove across the country just because you were bored?" she sighed. "Some days you are so infuriating."

"The same could be said about you, doll face."

Her face turned red. "I told you not to call me that!"

"Any way, you're going to brunch next door? Fancy."

She sighed. "Yes. And now you're coming too so," she looked over his jeans and his tank top. "Put on a button up at the least."

"Look at you, being so bossy."

"I am a boss, for the record."

"Of a florist shop."

"I'm still a boss," she said before walking off to check her outfit one last time-it was probably the third time she'd done so while Billy was here.

She was wearing a baby blue dress, small fabric daisies on the waistline. It was a v-neck, showcasing her simple pearl necklace.

"You look fine," Billy assured her. "Beautiful, in fact."

"Thanks," she said, blushing lightly. Once upon a time, she thought Billy liked her, but then their other friend Krauser had asked her out… That had been four years ago.

She grabbed the vase of peach roses and had Billy take the peach cobbler she had made this morning. "Are you sure I look okay?"

"You look fantastic, Becky. Trust me, I wouldn't lie to you."

She smiled. "I am trusting you. And if you're misleading me, I'll have-" she stopped herself short. I'll have Krauser hurt you, she had been about to say, teasingly. But Krauser wasn't there anymore; he hadn't been there for months.

"I'll hit you upside the head," she finished after a moment. "Now come on, you beach bum," she said to the Marine.

* * *

Jake opened the door for Rebecca and whoever it was with her. "Hi Ms. Rebecca! Can I take the flowers from you? By the way, that's Sherry," he said, nodding to a blonde behind him. "She's the daughter of Wesker's co-workers."

"I'm Sherry Louisa Birkin, to be specific," she said. "You're Rebecca Chambers?"

"Yes," she held out her hand. "This is my friend, Billy Coen."

She shook the young girl's hand before Wesker showed up.

"More flowers?" he asked her.

"And a peach cobbler," she said. "Is anyone allergic to pollen? I didn't think to ask. Or peaches."

"No, you're good. Albert Wesker," he said, holding his hand out to Billy.

"Billy Coen," he said, shaking his hand. "I've only been here for two hours and I've heard all about you."

Rebecca discreetly hit his foot.

"Come on into the kitchen and I'll introduce you to everyone."

* * *

"How's the flower business, anyway?" Ada asked, turning herself towards Rebecca.

Everybody was sitting down at the dining room table now, and most of the conversation was directed towards Rebecca and Billy, who were basically outsiders.

Rebecca finished her mouthful of salad before talking. "It could be better, I suppose, but it could be worse." _You know, if all of my business gets taken away because of a queen bee._ "I've only done a few events so far, but we're getting there."

"Billy, did you work with Rebecca back in California?" William asked.

"Nah, I'm not delicate enough for that kind of work. I'm in the Marines but I'm on leave right now."

"How do you know each other then?"

"Oh, childhood friends, right Becky?"

"High school, but yeah."

"We stayed in touch after school, and I actually introduced her to her fiance."

"You're getting married?" Sherry asked, smiling. "Weddings are so amazing!"

She blinked. "No, ah, we broke up."

"I'm sorry," Annette said, squeezing the younger girl's hand.

She shrugged. "Anyway, do you all do this often?"

"Not often enough," Ada said with a sigh. "It's usually in a stuffy restaurant, to be honest."

"In which she usually eats all of the chocolate mousse cups," Birkin said with a smile. "And when I say all of them, I mean all of them."

She flung a piece of egg at him. "And you drink five cups of coffee! Not to mention gain five pounds from fondue."

They were quite a few chuckles from around the table.

* * *

Rebecca refused to just sit around while Ada and Wesker started the dishes. When she got up Billy went to get up, but she gestured for him to stay down. He did enough as is.

"How can I help?" she asked the two when she walked into the kitchen.

Ada glanced over her shoulder. "We're fine, really."

"Oh, um, are you sure?"

Ada glanced around as she finished drying one of the salad dishes. "I think so, Wesker?"

"Hm? We're good, thank you Rebecca."

"Okay," she said before walking to the living room.

"She seems nice," Ada said in a softer voice. "Did you know about-"

"No. I only started talking to her a few days ago. I had no idea she had been engaged."

Ada didn't say anything for a moment. "It must've been hard."

He raised an eyebrow to her. "What do you mean?"

"Losing somebody you love just really sucks, even if it's a break up, alright?"

"Did something happen I'm not aware of?"

"No," she hissed. "Now go talk to her. She obviously likes you."

"Obviously?" he asked. "She doesn't seem that interested. Billy seems like he likes her."

"I'd bet that he's friendzoned. And's it's not like I'm asking you to ask her out right now, but I think you should try getting to know her."

"What about the women?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if she's reporting to them?"

"You're paranoid."

"Suburban housewives are feminine demons who will do anything to get something to talk about."

"But why you?" They stared at each other for a moment. "I mean you're brooding and a recluse, but…"

He shrugged. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm paranoid. I don't believe in coincidences though, and the fact Rebecca starts talking to me shortly after I find out I have a son and take him in…"

"Just see where it goes. If anything happens, you're a tough guy. And you can move into my house," she laughed at the thought.

"I'll hold you to it, you know."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you will."

* * *

Billy plopped himself down on Rebecca's couch. "So they seemed like a nice bunch of people."

"I'll agree to that."

"Ada and Wesker seem close."

"I guess? Nobody mentioned they were dating. She didn't seem to be on the defense or anything."

"She sat next to him," Billy pointed out.

"Okay, well that doesn't always mean everything."

"Yeah, I know."

"So, um, what did you think of Wesker?"

"His son is nice." She rolled her eyes. "And he seems pretty cool himself. Stop giving me that look, I'm not supposed to check out guys for you."

"I know, I know."

She sat down and leaned against him. "I'm so exhausted right now, not to mention stuffed."

He laughed. "Me too, doll face."

She flicked his shoulder. "I hate you sometimes," she mumbled. "Love you most of it though."


	4. Sunflowers & Popsicles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rebecca realizes that she may be getting in over her head with being a casual spy, while Wesker worries that Jake may have gone missing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you notice a huge change in writing style, it's because the first three chapters were written about four years ago and I decided that this was one of my fics that I wanted to try to finish, without remembering anything that I wanted to do with it lol. Don't worry though, I have a plan!

The book of the week was _supposed_ to be _The Light Between Oceans_ , but instead the ladies were grilling Rebecca about Wesker. She had thought that it was bad enough when Millie had cornered her, but this was so much worse.

“He didn’t know about Jake until two weeks ago. Wesker and Jake’s mom didn’t have an amicable breakup, so I guess she kinda kept Jake a secret…” She took a deep breath and a sip of lemon water. “Um, he works at Umbrella Pharmaceuticals.” 

“Umbrella, so fancy.” Suddenly there was a gleam in Millie’s eyes that made Rebecca shift in her seat, wondering why she had latched onto that fact. “Do you have any idea what he does there?”

“With those muscles, I’d say security.” Laura sighed dreamily, probably imagining What it would look like if Wesker had a reason to be in his yard, shirtless.

She shook her head. “No, he does research, I think it’s classified or top secret or whatever. I met the two people he works with, William and Ada. I think that Ada is his girlfriend, they seem really close. Wesker is the godfather of William and Annette’s daughter, Sherry.” With every word she felt heavier and she wanted to cry.

Millie nodded her head, looking somewhat satisfied. “This will do for now. Luckily, it’s in time for Amelia’s tenth anniversary party this weekend, isn’t it dear?”

“Oh yes, I’ll have to stop by the shop later to make sure you definitely understand what I want.” The blonde smiled at her and Rebecca got the feeling that there was at least one person who didn’t wish her ill.

Pamela, sitting in the chair next to Rebecca’s, leaned into her space. “By the way darling, who is that man staying with you? I noticed the pickup truck this morning, and then the man mowing as I walked over.”

She had been surprised that it took someone that long to ask about Billy and was suddenly happy to talk about someone who she knew wouldn’t mind it. “Oh, that’s just my friend Billy. I knew him in high school and we’ve kept in touch. He’s in the Marines but wanted to come see how I was doing while he was on leave.”

“It must be nice to have a man around,” Heidi commented. “You must be so lonely in that house by yourself.”

Rebecca thought about the apartment she and Jack had shared, and how when he was home it had always seemed like just the right size for the two of them. He had always told her that they would buy a bigger house when they were married so they could have plenty of room for children and pets. She’d been the only other person mentioned in his will aside from his father, so she had decided that she would do what they had wanted to do together. Sure, it was on the other side of the country so that she wouldn’t be constantly reminded of him, but she figured he wouldn’t be too upset about that.

“It’s not so bad, since I have room for my studio and everything. Plus, I work a lot, so it doesn’t bother me so much.”

* * *

Rebecca went back to her house before heading down to the florist shop. She was hoping to just grab her purse and go, but she stopped short when she walked into the kitchen.

“Billy, _what did you do_.?”

Jake was sitting up on the counter, holding both an icepack to his eye and then a paper towel to his bleeding nose. “Hi Rebecca!” he managed to say.

“Well, it turns out that Wesker had bought them a football but they hadn’t had the chance to play with it so I thought it would be fun to show him the basics after I finished mowing your yard.” He seemed so nonplussed by the fact that Jake looked like he had just gotten into a fist fight.

“Did you _beat_ him with the football?” She was up next to Jake now, trying to see if his eye was black. “Billy, how long has his nose been bleeding?”

“No, he just missed catching it. I dunno, maybe about ten minutes? It didn’t look broken.”

She shook her head at him before turning her attention back to Jake. “Go get me the long ice pack, Billy. Jake, let me show you how to hold that paper towel correctly…”

* * *

Jake hadn’t responded to any of Wesker’s texts for the past hour or his calls to the house.

“He’s probably taking a nap or something like that,” Ada told him, her voice uncharacteristically gentle, after seeing him check his phone again. “Don’t worry about him so much.”

Wesker shook his head. “I think something’s wrong. I’m going to take a lunch break to go check on him, okay?”

Ada and William looked at him, stunned.

“Lunch break? Are you sure _you’re_ okay?”

Normally Wesker wouldn’t leave, but they were at a non-crucial stage in their testing at this point that he didn’t need to be at the lab all of the time. “Yes. I’ll let you know what happens.”

The entire drive home he was practically vibrating. The desire for a cigarette was strong, even though it had only been a minor habit in college. He tried listening to classical music to calm himself down, but that didn’t work, so he flipped the radio off at a red light and turned his windows down, hoping that the wind would drown out his thoughts.

He didn’t bother backing up his car like he usually did, he just parked and then ran into the unlocked house. “Jake! Where are you?”

_Silence._

Panic started to crawl up his throat and he wanted to throw up. Had Jake’s uncle changed his mind and come back for him?

He rushed back outside and saw that both Rebecca’s and Billy’s vehicles were in the driveway. Maybe they had seen something?

He crossed over the yards and went up to Rebecca’s door, practically banging on it before he took a deep breath. She probably had nothing to do with Jake’s disappearance ( _potential kidnapping_ , his brain reminded him).

She opened the door, eyes wide. Her hands had blood on them.

“Ohmigod Wesker-”

”Jake is missing.”

“Is that my dad? He’s gonna be so mad at me.”

The voice sounded like it was back in her kitchen and as soon as he heard it he wanted to collapse. He didn’t know if he had ever been so worried about something so much before.

“Can I come in?” It was almost a stupid question, because Rebecca was already moving back to let him in.

“He’s okay, it’s just that, um, well Billy kind of hit in the face with a football, I guess. I wasn’t here but Jake didn’t say that it was something else.”

Wesker came in and saw that Jake was on Rebecca’s counter, bloody paper towels next to him, but he wasn’t bleeding anywhere anymore. He had an ice pack to his eye, and looked more or less fine.

He didn’t really know what to do aside from bringing Jake into hug, practically lifting him off of the counter. “I was so worried.”

“I’m sorry Dad.” Jake’s voice was muffled as he spoke into his shoulder.

For a moment, he thought that his heart was going to burst open. Jake had never called him “Dad” before, just “Wesker.” “Are you okay now?”

Jake removed the ice pack and Wesker was relieved to see that it was just swollen and not black. “Yeah. Did you come home just for me?”

Wesker nodded. “I had to make sure you were okay.”

Jake looked like he was about to cry. “You really care about me?”

“Of course I care about you, you’re my son. I love you.”

He broke into a grin before hugging his father again.

* * *

It was a little later, while the four of them were eating sandwiches and popsicles at a table. Rebecca had just rearranged a bouquet of sunflowers and other yellow flowers before they sat down.

She was incredibly happy that Jake and Wesker had reached some kind of understanding with each other. At the same time, it made something in her fill with some kind of sad longing that she didn’t want to think about.

“Wesker, if you want, Jake can come with me to the shop.” She suggested the idea as soon as she thought of it. “There’s not a whole lot of trouble that a kid can get into around flowers.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Billy look a little concerned. She had told him all about the blackmail and he had wanted her to let him handle it, but she had been certain that he would have just gotten himself arrested. He thought that it was a lot for her to try to do, especially considering Krauser’s death.

“Yeah Dad! Wouldn’t it be great if we got to see more of Rebecca?”

“I wouldn’t want to impose, I’m sure you’re very busy and that it wouldn’t help to have a child around.”

Rebecca swallowed on nothing. “Really, it’s fine, and I wouldn’t have suggested it if I hadn’t thought that it was a good idea.”

Wesker looked from Rebecca to Jake. “If you’re certain, that might be a good idea.”

“Great! If you’re going back to work, I can just take him into work with me when I go in a little bit.”

He sighed. “I wish I didn’t have to, honestly. One of our patients was showing a lot of brain activity the other night though, so we’re hoping for a break through soon.”

“Brain activity? Why is that important?” Billy looked interested in this conversation. They hadn’t learned much about what Ada, William, and Wesker did at Umbrella, but Rebecca noticed that Billy was almost as interested in their work as Millie was.

“I can’t talk about it much, but what it mostly comes down to is that our patients are all in comas.”

Billy frowned. “How is it legal to test on them then?”

“Their families all signed off on it. We send reports weekly to them and they don’t have to pay for hospital stays.”

“And you’re working on getting them out of their comas?”

“I’m sorry Billy, but I really can’t discuss this any more than I already have.”

“Right, thank you.”

“Thank you for taking care of my son, both of you. I was just so worried that something had happened…”

Rebecca realized that maybe there was a lot that they didn’t know about Jake and Wesker.

As they watched Wesker say goodbye to Jake before heading back to work, and that seed of longing turned into a pit, she remembered that there was a lot they didn’t know about her either.


	5. Thorns and Tiramisu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rebecca finds herself not just with one, but two allies. Meanwhile, Wesker and Billy both have mysteries that they want to solve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so just so everyone knows, I will be trying to update this fic on Wednesdays (more or less)!  
> Also, I'll probably be going through and editing the first three chapters so that they flow better and such, and I might be cutting down on a few of the original female characters so that it's easier for me to keep track of lol.  
> Thanks for reading!

By the time that Jake and Rebecca got to the shop, she wondered why she even bothered coming in today. Her assistant didn’t really need any help because it had been a slow day. In any case, it was probably a good idea to show Jake around the shop when she wasn’t busy trying to get it open or prepping a last minute arrangement.

“Everything in here is really pretty,” Jake told her after she had given him the tour.

“Thanks, Jake. That’s always reassuring to hear.”

Rebecca had just leaned over the checkout, feeling like she might need a little bit of a break from her life, when the bell over the door jungled. Of course, since they were only two hours away rom closing, Rebecca had sent her assistant home early as an apology for leaving her here all day.

She looked up and wanted to groan. It was Amelia, because she was coming to talk about the order for her anniversary.

Amelia stopped short when she saw Jake, as if she wasn’t sure what to do now that there was a child here. Or, at least, specifically _this_ child that Rebecca had spent half of the last book club meeting talking about.

“Jake, this is Amelia. She lives in Avalon with us,” she said carefully, “we go to the same book club.”

“Oh cool! My dad has a lot of books.” He wrinkled his nose. “He said that most of them are for adults though, so we’re going to the bookstore this weekend.”

Amelia laughed. “How exciting.”

“Yeah.” He looked from Rebecca and then back to Amelia. “I’ll go in the back now. Nice meeting you, Miss Amelia.”

Rebecca watched as Amelia watched Jake walk away before she returned her attention back to her. “Well, he seems like an absolute darling. Wesker has it lucky, doesn’t he?”

She thought back to how panicked Wesker had been just earlier that day, thinking that something absolutely terrible had happened to Jake. Something about the whole affair still had her unsettled. “Yes, Jake is very kind. Why don’t we talk about your flowers for this weekend?”

Amelia reached over and squeezed Rebecca’s hand. “I just want you to know that I don’t agree with what Millie is having you do. You’ll have my business for as long as I’m here.”

“Are you and Clark planning on moving?”

Rebecca was decent at reading people’s facial expressions. It had been something that would have helped her in special ops, had she continued on that track. So she watched Amelia’s face carefully and realized that she had said something that she hadn’t meant to.

“No, not at all. Anyway, I was thinking about peonies for the anniversary…”

* * *

When Wesker came into the house, he could tell that Jake was there. Something about the atmosphere of it felt different with him in it. He was on his way to make sure that his son was asleep when he saw that Rebecca was asleep on the couch. She had the throw blanket from the back of the couch wrapped around her, the tips of her toes just barely peeking out from underneath it.

He stood there, unsure of what to do with himself now. He walked over and knelt next to her, his hand hovering over her shoulder for a moment, debating on whether or not he should actually wake up. He had to imagine that the couch was not comfortable enough to sleep on for a whole night.

He gently placed his hand on her to gently shale her awake, saying her name softly as he did.

Her legs stretched out as her eyes opened, squinting at the light, and seemingly burrowed further into the couch. “Jack, just carry me to bed.”

_Jack? Is that her former fiancé’s name?_

He stilled for a moment. A good person would tell her that she was dreaming, or something. What he wanted to do was find out more about this mysterious fiancé. All he knew was that he was no longer around and that Billy had known him.M/p>

She was a good person, though. A good person deserved better than his snooping around in her private life.

“Rebecca.” He said her name more firmly, shook her a little bit harder than he probably needed to. “It’s me, Wesker. You can go home now.”

She definitely came to more from that, sitting up with her cheeks aflame. “Hey. I’m sorry, I must have been in a pretty deep sleep. Jake’s been in bed since about 9:30. We had some spaghetti over at my place and I loaned him a few children’s classics for him to read until the two of you can head to the bookstore or the library.”

He took out his phone to write down library cards on his to-do list. “Thank you, I really appreciate this. How did it work out with him at the flower shop?”

“It was great, he’s such a well behaved kid, you know? I think that this is going to turn out really well.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Do you want me to walk you back to your place?”

She shook her head as she got off of the couch. “I’ll see you two tomorrow morning then. What time do you leave for work?”

“I leave at 8:30 at the latest. I can just send Jake over after we have breakfast.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.” She slipped her shoes on as Wesker opened the door for her. “Good night, Wesker.” She seemed to pronounce his name with certain care, as if reminding herself that was, in fact, who he was.

“Good night, Rebecca.”

* * *

Rebecca was nursing a cup of black tea, heavily sweetened with honey, trying to fully wake herself up before Jake got there. “Billy, what are you talking about?”

Of course, he had been awake for nearly two hours already, having gotten up to workout, then take a shower, and now try to get her to eat something. “I’m on indefinite leave.”

She stirred around her bowl of oatmeal, contemplating this for a moment. “But why?”

There were, of course, a multitude of reasons. Many of them were classified. “I just think that you could use the help around here, especially with this whole book club thing, especially now that you’re watching Jake on top of the flower shop. And I like getting to see Luis, Chris, Leon, and the rest of them.”

“I just don’t understand the _indefinite_ part. Don’t they need you for missions?”

This was bordering into the classified part. Something had happened after Jack’s last official mission that had made the higher-ups hesitant to give Billy assignments. Then, his own last mission had been an arranged clusterfuck. He hadn’t told Becky, because he didn’t want her to worry, but he had only made it out by the skin of his teeth.

“Don’t worry about it, okay? I mean, have I overstayed my welcome?”

“No, that’s not it at all. I just…” She looked back down at her breakfast. “Isn’t it hard for you to be around me?”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, just looking at her, from where he leaned against the counter. “We both lost Jack. Being around you reminds me of the good times that we all had and the good times that can, and will, come. Is it hard for you?”

“No, not really. It’s just that last night I think I called Wesker ‘Jack’ when he was trying to wake me up, and it’s got me thinking about _that_ night more than usual. Of course I want you to stay though, as long as you need to.”

He walked over to her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head as the doorbell rang. “Guess that’ll be Jake and Wesker,” he said as he walked over to it. If he was being really honest with himself and Becky, Wesker was just one more reason that he wanted to stay. The man seemed nice enough, but there was something off about the closeness of him with Ada and Birkin. Not to mention how freaked out he got when he thought that Jake was missing.

He was going to get to the bottom of this--it was to protect not only Rebecca, but Jake too.


	6. Pink Roses and Fruit Tart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Billy expresses his doubts to an outside party; Wesker and Rebecca both find out more about each other.  
> (could this chapter actually further the plot? It's more likely than you'd think)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in advance p l e a s e excuse my shitty science in this. This is basically a Resident Evil x Hallmark movie fanfic with a smattering of espionage stuff, plz suspend your disbelief for like, the duration you read this I guess

“I think we should be more worried about Rebecca,” Luis told Billy as he finished icing a tray of cupcakes. Billy had come over after dropping Rebecca and Jake off at the flower shop. “Doesn’t all of this seem so weird?”

Billy was sitting a high chair that he had brought in from the sitting area of the cupcake shop. “Yeah, it does. I was thinking, why don’t we have everyone over and invite Wesker and his friends? Maybe we can get to the bottom of this if we put all of our heads together. I’m just worried about how this is affecting Becky--I don’t think that this is helping her. I always see that her light is on whenever when I go to check on her.”

Luis rubbed his eyebrows after setting down the cupcake decorator. “It’s the blackmail. She’s probably afraid of the state of losing the business--you know how much she cares about it. It’s all she has, since Jack…”

Billy knew all too well how much the flower shop-- _The Not-Secret Garden_ \--meant to her, and that was more than Luis was probably aware of. “Then we have to do something, like a contingency plan maybe.”

“I already buy arrangements from her weekly and I have her business cards at the counter. Leon and Chris are both constantly talking about the shop whenever they get the chance at the precinct. I’m not sure how much more you expect from us.”

“Right, I didn’t mean to insinuate that you guys weren’t doing as much as you could, I just, you know. I want to help her.”

“Like you wanted to help her by introducing her to Jack?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Leon and I were trying to get her to go on a date with Chris when you introduced her to Jack and look at how that turned out.”

“You can’t just talk about my _dead_ best friend like that!”

“Leon knew him too, don’t you forget that.”

The two of them stood there, practically staring each other down. “I don’t want to argue about this.” Billy’s voice is low and soft. “I wouldn’t go back in time and undo what I did, because it made Becky happy to be with Jack, and he was happy with her. It’s not like Chris is _unhappy_ right now.”

“Yeah, real happy with his paramour who is apparently never around. You’d think that we were in a Shakespearean play or something.” Luis snorted and shook his head. “Now, are you just going to stand there or are you going to actually help me finish setting up?”

Billy let out a sigh as his mind wandered to Chris for a moment before letting himself come back to the moment. “Yeah, of course.”

* * *

“Hey, uh, Dad?”

Wesker looked up from his book and saw that Jake was clutching to the one stuffed animal that he had brought with him when his uncle had dropped him off, standing in the doorway of Wesker’s bedroom, one of his blankets wrapped around him. “What’s wrong?”

Jake looked behind him before he shuffled into the bedroom. “I had a dream, about Mom. And, uh, she used to let me sleep with her when I was scared. And I’m scared.”

Wesker moved over on his bed and patted the space next to him. “You can come here, if that will help.”

Jake smiled as he came over and climbed onto the bed. “What are you reading?”

Wesker just looked at his son for a moment, his heart full of so much love for him, even though they hadn’t known each other that long. “I’m only a few pages in, why don’t I just restart it and read it out loud to you?”

“Thanks Dad.”

* * *

Ada stood next to the patient, looking at the charts again. “Why do you think that he has more response to the treatment than anyone else?”

Birkin shrugged. “It’s hard to tell. Afterall, the Veronica treatment is very experimental, we all know that. I mean, this goes above and beyond what people thought that stem cell treatments would be able to do, you know? Growing back limbs and fixing connections that we never thought that would work again… Twenty years ago, who could have every thought that this would be possible?”

She looked at the chart again. “Isn’t it strange that it’s him? He’s the only one that we don’t have a full name for. Just initials.”

“I guess the family just wanted some privacy? Who knows with the variety of patients that Umbrella pulls in. I wouldn’t question it.”

Ada looked at him, an eyebrow raised, but she let it go. She’d get enough answers soon enough; if what she was reading was any indication, he’d be waking up any day now.

* * *

Rebecca and Jake had just finished making dinner--macaroni & cheese in bread bowls, with grape tomatoes and a fruit tart for dessert--when Wesker walked in from the garage entrance.

He just stood there for a moment, seeming to take in the scene, a smile on his face. “How was everyone’s day?”

Rebecca jumped a little at the sound of his voice; she hadn’t noticed him walk in, leaning over the table as she had been. She had opened her mouth to answer when Jake answered, excitedly talking about how he had helped with the flower arrangements for Amelia and Clark’s anniversary party tomorrow.

“Where’s Billy?” Wesker asked after he and Jake had finished their conversation.

“Oh, he was spending the day with some of our other friends.” Rebecca was still standing awkwardly by the table, not sure what to do with herself. In truth, she wasn’t quite sure where Billy was, because she had thought that he was going to be with Luis all day, but Leon had texted her earlier to ask if the two of them wanted to come over to have dinner with Luis and him. “I’m sorry if I was a little presumptuous, but I thought that the three of us could all have dinner tonight.”

“It’s fine, of course. Do you want a beer or wine to go with dinner?”

“Oh, um, sure, whatever you’re having.”

He grabbed two beers from the fridge before walking over. “You didn’t say how your day was.”

She had forgotten how nice it was to have a man’s attention on her, other than Billy, which was just a totally different relationship. “It was good, yeah. Jake was great, as usual.”

“Did anyone give you any trouble?” For a moment, she wondered if Wesker _knew_ what was going on, but she realized that was pretty unlikely--wouldn’t he have said something? Wouldn’t she know if he knew? Millie probably would have said or done something, like make Amelia cancel the anniversary order. He was just asking because she worked in customer service--that had to be it.

“No, everyone was great today.” She finally made herself sit down as he set down a beer at what she realized had become her spot as his table--right next to him, across from Jake. They- they almost looked like a family. Like the one she would have had with Jack, except instead of Jake, they would have had a little baby. They would have been six months old at this point. But they weren’t. “How was your day?”

Wesker had popped the caps off the bottles and had just taken a sip of his. “Actually, very good, I think. We think that the one patient will be waking up very soon, so we’re excited to see how the treatment has worked on him. We’ve had physical therapists working on the patients so they don’t have total muscle atrophy, but obviously it’s important about how the patients feel.”

Rebecca chewed thoughtfully while thinking about this. It sounded like the comas weren’t the main focus, like Billy had been thinking the other day. _The treatment of what?_ she wanted to ask, but didn’t want Wesker to shut her down like he had with Billy.

“Which guy is this?” Jake suddenly asked. He had already gotten through half of his mac and cheese while Rebecca had barely touched hers in between talking and mooning over Wesker. “The kid whose arm was amputated? Or the guy who had the punctured forearm?”

Rebecca looked over to Wesker and saw that he had flushed. So he _did_ talk about work with Jake. She hadn’t really wanted to ask him about his father’s work though, in case he told him.

Instead of chastizing Jake, he just sighed. “Forearm. We think that it has something to do with his wounds not be as severe as the other patients.”

Jake nodded. “That would make sense. Isn’t it so cool that Dad is working on helping people grow their limbs back?”

She heard the bottle smash against the floor before she had realized that she had dropped it. “I’m so sorry, I’ll clean it up.” She started to push the chair back, not realizing that there were little bits of glass all over the floor. She gasped as her foot hit the pieces.

Before she could comprehend it, Wesker had scooped her out of her chair and onto the counter. “Are you alright?”

She shook her head as the throbbing pain spread along the bottom of her foot. She felt like she was acting like a little child as she started crying.

“Jake, why don’t you go get the first aid kit from the bathroom?” Wesker’s voice was soft and soothing as he took her heel into his hand. “The good news is that it doesn’t look like there’s many pieces embedded.”

It was quiet as Jake brought over the first aid kit and Wesker carefully pulled out the tiny pieces in the balls of her feet, aside from her crying. As Wesker worked on her, Jake cleaned up underneath the table before sitting back on his chair and finished his dinner.

“Why don’t you go take your shower?” Wesker asked Jake as he finished securing gauze to Rebecca’s foot. “Then the three of us can have dessert.”

Rebecca heard rather than saw Jake go upstairs to his bathroom. “I’m so sorry,” she said again as Wesker closed the first aid kit. “I made such a mess of your Friday night.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” He brushed back a piece of her hair. “Was it something I said?”

“Billy told me that before my fiance did, he had an arm injury that would have left it basically unusable.” She rubbed her eyes again, trying to stop crying. “He said that Jack was totally unconsolable about it. It’s been about a year since he died.”

Wesker was standing in between her legs now. _In any world_ , she thought to herself, _we would be kissing right now._

* * *

_We should be kissing right now_ , he thought to himself, but instead he picked her up and hugged her. Like a koala bear, she wrapped her legs around him as she buried her face into his chest.

“You never have to go through that again,” he reminded her, “and you already made it this far.” He set her down, her leaning so that her weight was off of her bad foot.

“But my child didn’t.” The words were a quiet confession, so soft that angels probably had trouble hearing it. 

Wesker found that he was not socially equipped to deal with this revelation with much grace. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I had a miscarriage, after finding out that Jack died.” She looked in the direction that Jake had gone and sighed. “They would have been six months old.”

“Are they part of the reason you came here?”

She nodded and took a deep breath, clearly trying to hold back another onslaught of tears. “I just… Jack left everything to me, so I had enough money to move and start over.” She looked over to Wesker again, finally smiling again. “I’ll be honest though, I feel like my life wasn’t mine again until I started being around you and Jake. It felt like this was all a dream and that I would wake up to him again.” Another deep breath. “I know that I won’t, but suddenly that feels more okay now.”

He stared at her, not knowing how to respond. She must have interpreted his silence as judgement because she started babbling even more. “Not that you guys are like, placeholders in my life, or anything, because I really care about both of you, you know? I just feel like I have another purpose to my life, something that’s really fulfilling, aside from the flower shop and that stupid book club.”

He just smiled at her as she drifted off, still looking at his face. “Can I kiss you?”

“Oh, I never thought you’d ask.”

* * *

When Jake came down form his shower, he found his dad holding Rebecca with one arm, the other hand cupping her face.

“You guys are just as gross as everyone else’s parents,” he declared as he walked past them. “Really, really gross. Can we have dessert now?”


End file.
